I Dare You to Come Closer

After the same thunderstorm that caused the flood over the road in another post today, we came upon this Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) as it attempted to escape the flooded creek to cross the same road. Being animal lovers, and looking for a photo opportunity as well, we stopped at a safe spot and walked back to it to try to lift it across the road before it got hit by a car. As I approached, it became clear that this turtle was its own ark of beetles, slugs, snails and other creatures that hitched a ride. The old turtle was probably 18 inches from front to back of its shell. It had clearly survived many trials, judging from its nearly filed off claws, and a chunk of its leathery shell was missing at the back. It fervently declined my offer of assistance, and it repeatedly demonstrated how it gets its name as I tried to scoot it off the road with my boot. Eventually I moved it to the road side without getting bitten. It expressed its appreciation by hissing as I left. ___________________________________Gary Holmes, photographer: I am an opportunist photographer of nature, landscapes, abstract, and other found objects of interest. I prefer to capture the spontaneity of things and events as they are occurring, and rarely photograph staged subjects other than portraits. Although I have been a photographer for decades, I have only started posting them for others to see since about September 2012. Please see my largest collection of photographs posted at http://500px.com/holmesidepi. I had sufficient encouragement from posts on other sites to try putting some up for sale on Fine Art America (FAA), which offers a wide range of printing and mounting options not currently available on 500px. As a result, I have successfully sold some of my works. Unfortunately, photography is not my primary field, and I have limited time to expand my online presence, but I will continue to steadily post more of my best works on 500px and/or FAA every week. Pl